Free lunch and fresh options: an appetite for change in Durham Public Schools

BY LUCIA HARRINGTON

     The bell rings and students stream into the cafeteria to get lunch, joining the two lines and funneling in to get their trays. This year, however, these students may notice some changes with their lunches.
​     At all Durham Public Schools, lunch and breakfast are free this year. Additionally, a new menu was developed with youth input. Because of these changes, more students are eating the school lunch. Still, difficulties persist, such as student complaints about quality and the strain of increased meal production on cafeteria staff.

PHOTO CREDIT:  JAKE HILLYGUS
​Jhesser Dubon, a junior at DSA, holds up his cheeseburger. Lunch for students is free this year. 

            “Now that lunch is free this year, the participation even went up… a lot of students are coming in, looking to see what we have, and some will walk back out, but the numbers are great,” Tonya James, cafeteria manager at DSA, reported. 
     In order to make breakfast and lunch free for all students, DPS was eligible for and implemented the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which was established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service division. The program grants federal reimbursement to districts based on how many students are eligible for free meals. One hope people have for the free meals is that they will destigmatize eating school lunch or being eligible for free meals.
     “Free meals for all students is an integral part of our district's commitment to equitable education and services, regardless of the school a student attends. In addition, we believe free meals for all will begin to address the stigma associated with school meals,” Linden Thayer, Assistant Director of Food Systems Planning at DPS, stated.
     Along with the price change, there have also been changes to the school lunch menus. The new menu design is intended to have more vegetarian and culturally diverse options, more seasonal fresh fruit, and a greater variety of ingredients. It also features ‘Build your own bowl’ options each week, such as the burrito bowl. 
     “The new menu was first developed based on design work conducted by Unbox, DPS's Youth Food Policy Council, the School Nutrition Services Innovation Team, and state/national best practices,” Thayer explained. 
     DPS’s Unbox program is new, with its first group of 16 students that participated in the 23-24 school year spanning 9 schools and 6 grades. It facilitates youth input on school lunches and is likely responsible for some of the positive changes this year. It is continuing this year, so students can be optimistic about the future of school lunch. This year, DSA students still have critiques and identify room to improve. 
     “The burrito bowl is good, I just wish there were… more sauces and toppings to go with it because I feel like currently it’s a bit bland,” sophomore Josh Resuello commented.
     Since lunch is free for all students, more are getting school lunch, which means more meals need to be produced and served. That can be difficult with limited space and staff.
     “We are constantly on the floor. Because, you know, the lines are so long on both sides, so it's been very busy,” James expressed.
      Both students and staff have hopes for school nutrition in the future. For one, James hopes to have more serving lines so that lunches can get distributed faster. 
     “Hopefully the new dsa will be ready… [the cafeteria] should be wide open,” James noted.
     Nutrition services at Durham Public Schools have room to grow. For now, free lunch, DPS inclusion of students in its conversations about school food in their Unbox program, and an increasingly diversified menu are all positive steps towards a fresher future.
     “We have a vision of DPS SNS being a focal point of student AND staffs' day, a place to gather and enjoy a shared meal, with delicious meal options that meet a wide variety of allergies, preferences, and cultures,” Thayer concluded.